U.S. Airlines Lash Out at Boeing Subsidies, Air India

American airlines have slammed U.S. government subsidies given to foreign rivals who buy Boeing planes, and the airlines want $3.4 billion of loan guarantees given to Air India to be reconsidered, a report said Sunday.

The Wall Street Journal said the Air Transport Association -- in a letter to Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg earlier this month -- called on the federal agency to slash funding to international buyers of Boeing jetliners.

"The bank's support for foreign airlines injures U.S. carriers," said ATA lawyer Michael Kellogg in the letter, the newspaper reported on its website.

The letter centered on Air India, according to the Journal, arguing that the state-owned carrier's long-running losses and management problems should bar it from U.S. financial assistance.

The legal director of the Ex-Im [Export-Import] Bank said in a letter of response that it stood by its decisions and processes, the Journal reported.

The Ex-Im Bank, which is the official export credit agency of the United States government, was established before World War II to help finance foreign purchases of American goods.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011